Conventionally, restaurant guests or consumers purchase items or services within a restaurant or “brick and mortar” retail store by interacting with a person employed at the restaurant or store. In a restaurant for example, a waiter or waitress typically provides a menu to a guest and subsequently the guest will verbally place an order with the waiter or waitress. Most often, the order placement process will be efficient and without error. However, sometimes it may require an inconvenient amount of time for the order to be placed. The order may also be returned incorrectly to thereby result in additional time needed to place and return the correct order. For at least these reasons, it is desired to provide improved systems and techniques for conveniently and efficiently placing orders in restaurants and “brick and mortar” retail stores.